2009 Goodguys Del Mar Nationals - Heavy Hitters Roll Into Socal

1/22We had just gotten the first copies of the June issue when I stumbled upon that month's '55 Ford cover truck. The Heintzelmans had no idea what I was about to hand them, but judging by their smiles, it looks like they liked it!

The Goodguys show in Del Mar is always a great show for us and everyone in attendance. Lots of top-notch builders debut cars and trucks they've done over the winter at the show and we usually scoop the first features on the new trucks, like Gary Coe's F-157 from a couple of years ago. This year was a whole 'nuther story! We knew that Kirk Johnson and Roseville Rod and Custom were going to bring down the silver '68 F-100 from our last issue--which was an exclusive--and we all thought it was a shoo-in for the Goodguys Truck of the Year late nomination. Much to everyone's surprise as well as those who hadn't seen the F-100 yet, there were two more trucks that arrived hoping for the nomination!

In the classic truck world this kind of heated competition isn't usually part of the game, but it just goes to show that more and more people are building trucks and some very high-quality ones at that. Even in the current state of the economy when the street rod and muscle car markets have slowed down, trucks are hot! Les Allen brought this month's cover truck, his just-finished '56 Cameo, down from Washington state for the show, and that along with Ironworks Speed and Kustom's C6-pinned, tube chassis, gloss black '57 Chevy, things looked wide open as far as judging is concerned. This again was weird because there isn't usually this much competition!

All three trucks sat outside together in the Trick Truck Coral on Saturday for judging and it was a nerve-racking day for those involved to say the least, but there were many other great trucks to look at in the show and the weekend weather couldn't have been nicer. All in all there were about 2,000 entrants in the show and new for this year was the inclusion of the popular Air Ride Street Challenge autocross--even though it was a bit out of the way for some.

In the end, Kirk Johnson's '68 Bumpside got the nod for the nomination from this show, but that doesn't mean the race is over since the season just got started. We'll bet the others will be doing a little traveling to other Goodguys shows to pick up nominations themselves--what a year for classic trucks! Go to www.good-guys.com for more info on this year's shows.